Ode to moms...

[Karl Molitoris]

One minute they’re there and the next they’re gone. And then it hits you. Exactly what you no longer have. The 'purest' love you will ever know. No, not the hottest and maybe not the longest (lasting), but it will be the steadiest, most unwavering love you will ever have. And it’s totally different than the love of your wife / husband, father, sister / brother, girl/boyfriend, friends, etc. She gave you life, fed you, cleaned your diapers, spent years trying to make you the best you could be. Sacrificed the world (which might have been hers had she not birthed you) and never complained. She only wanted that you could succeed in whatever you thought was important; it didn’t matter what she thought of it as long as YOU were going after what you wanted.

She would revel in your successes and find amusement in your little defeats…always bringing you back to earth to what was REALLY important…and perhaps unknowing of you at the time would guide you back onto YOUR tract of life. She had a sense of humor (although may not always have showed it). Think of it; she HAD to have a sense of humor – she raised you (and my mom, me)!

It’s funny how sometimes there is talk about “…your mom…” on this message board. And while such threads / comments are usually rather perverse, I’m guessing that a lot of moms would get a chuckle out of such. Oh, they’d never do so (laugh at such) in public, but they’d be hiding their smiles and laughing at such boyhood silliness inside. I know my mom would have.

She was an amazing source of ‘oneness’. Of one mind, never wavering, never altering. She acted towards me as no one else has. Whether I had come home to ‘borrow’ $20 (because I had just graduated college and didn’t have a job yet) or was as I am now (worth just a wee bit more than $20..) she acted towards me the same way…with love. Whether I got fired from a job or got a new one…she only wanted me to be happy. She would put me to the test knowing that I will need to learn how to survive these tests (whatever the ‘test’ (in life) would be) as I WOULD be tested later in life…yet always was there to keep an even keel whether or not I passed or failed such test. I believe you will NEVER find anyone else who so steadfastly tows the line of truth, devotion, unselfishness as moms do.

I know NOW what I will always have missing. I had a feeling (about what ‘moms’ are all about) but never REALLY knew until it happened.

If you still have your mom, appreciate her for what she’s given you (life…literally), how she acts (always in your best interest), and that she only wants for you what you want for you. Understand that to have that kind of person in your corner is worth the world. If you don’t, we can think back and smile at all the good times and be in awe at how much moms put up with (in raising us) and the amount of love they’ve given to us.

[Jim Bobka]

Thank you Karl.